High fire danger for Olympics facing Hood Canal

Published 5:19 pm Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The National Weather Service has issued this “red flag warning” for high fire conditions in the Olympic Mountains on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula:

CENTRAL AND SOUTH PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-

BLACK HILLS AND SOUTHWEST INTERIOR LOWLANDS-

SOUTHEAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS GENERALLY BELOW 1500 FEET-

EAST PORTION OF THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS–

353 PM PDT WED SEP 12 2012

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THURSDAY FOR THE

EASTERN OLYMPICS…AND MUCH OF THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS SOUTH OF

EVERETT FOR LOW RH…EAST WINDS AND HIGH HAINES CONDITIONS…

* AFFECTED AREA…THE EASTERN OLYMPICS…AND THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS

SOUTH OF EVERETT.

* WINDS…NORTH TO NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 MPH…EXCEPT LOCALLY EAST 8

TO 14 MPH WITH GUSTS NEAR 20 OVER THE LOWLANDS NEAR THE CASCADES

AND THE RIDGES AROUND THE EASTERN OLYMPICS TONIGHT INTO

THURSDAY MORNING.

* TIMING…TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FOR WINDS AND LOW RH AND

THURSDAY AND THURSDAY EVENING FOR LOW RH AND HIGH HAINES.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AS LOW AS 15 TO 25 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS…THE WIND AND LOW RH COMBINATION CAN CAUSE RAPID FIRE

SPREAD EVEN THROUGH THE NIGHT…WHILE THE LOW RH AND HIGH HAINES

COMBINATION CAN CAUSE LARGE FIRE GROWTH DUE TO PLUME DOMINATED

PROCESSES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS

ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF

STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL

CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

Here’s the blog entry by Scott Sistek, a Port Angeles native who watches weather conditions for the PDN’s news partner, KOMO News, in Seattle: http://bit.ly/SFIPmn